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Calculus Level 4

The average distance of a point lying on y = sin 6 x y = \sin^{6} x from the x x -axis in a fundamental period can be expressed as a b \frac{a}{b} , where a a and b b are coprime. Find a + b a+b .


The answer is 21.

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3 solutions

All we have to do is just to find the "average" of this function and we can do it without using "really" integrate

first we change this function to other form

sin 6 ( θ ) = ( sin 2 ( θ ) ) 3 \sin^{6}(\theta)=(\sin^{2}(\theta))^{3}

( 1 cos ( 2 θ ) 2 ) 3 = 1 3 cos ( 2 θ ) + 3 cos 2 ( 2 θ ) cos 3 ( 2 θ ) 8 (\frac{1-\cos(2\theta)}{2})^{3}=\frac{1-3\cos(2\theta)+3\cos^{2}(2\theta)-\cos^{3}(2\theta)}{8}

1 8 ( 1 3 cos ( 2 θ ) + 3 2 ( 1 + cos ( 4 θ ) ) + 3 cos ( 2 θ ) cos ( 6 θ ) 4 ) \frac{1}{8}(1-3\cos(2\theta)+\frac{3}{2}(1+\cos(4\theta))+\frac{-3\cos(2\theta)-\cos(6\theta)}{4})

and we know that average of sine and cosine function is 0,so

< s i n 6 ( θ ) > = 1 8 ( 5 2 ) = 5 16 <sin^{6}(\theta)>=\frac{1}{8}(\frac{5}{2})=\frac{5}{16}

then 5 + 16 = 21.. A n s 5+16=21 ..Ans

Jake Lai
Feb 20, 2015

We're trying to find

lim n 1 n i = 0 n sin 6 ( i π n ) \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \frac{1}{n} \sum_{i=0}^{n} \sin^{6}(\frac{i\pi}{n})

This is a Riemann sum, so we express it in integral form:

1 π 0 π sin 6 x d x = 1 π 1 × 3 × 5 × π 2 × 4 × 6 = 5 16 \frac{1}{\pi} \int_{0}^{\pi} \sin^{6} x \ dx = \frac{1}{\pi} \frac{1 \times 3 \times 5 \times \pi}{2 \times 4 \times 6} = \boxed{\frac{5}{16}}

Can you explain how you evaluated that integral in just a single step?

Prasun Biswas - 6 years, 3 months ago

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By using walli's reduction formula... Or by beta gamma function

Mohanish Gaikwad - 6 years, 3 months ago

For positive integer n 2 n\geq 2 ,

sin n x d x = cos n x d x = ( n 1 ) ! ! n ! ! × ( π 2 ) ( n + 1 ) m o d 2 \int \sin^n x \, dx = \int \cos^n x dx = \dfrac{(n-1)!!}{n!!} \times \left( \dfrac \pi 2 \right)^{(n+1) \bmod 2}

To prove this, start with sin n x d x = sin n 2 x ( 1 cos 2 x ) d x \int \sin^n x \, dx = \int \sin^{n-2} x (1 - \cos^2 x) \, dx , and apply Integration U-substitution - Trigonometric . This is a common Reduction formula trick .

Pi Han Goh - 5 years, 6 months ago

I integrated manually using sin3x formula..it was pain in ass..

Sachin Arora - 6 years, 3 months ago
Aaghaz Mahajan
May 6, 2018

The catch is integrating (sinx)^6 from 0 to pi......this can be done easily using Beta Function.......

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